Are You Real?
by H2OSorceress
Summary: Annabeth had never given up hope... Until now. Now she can't stop the tears from rolling down her face. A short story after Percy's Dream of Annabeth and Grover in the Son of Neptune. Annabeth's POV.


**Are You Real?**

By: H2OSorceress's Friend. Yeah. That's my name. Ok, fine. You can call me "QuillSilver27314."

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON. I DO NOT OWN ANNABETH CHASE. I DO NOT OWN _THE HEROS OF OLYMPUS. _OTHERWISE IT WOULD BE A SERIES ABOUT PERCY AND ANNABETH DATING, IT WOULD BE EXTREMLEY BAD, AND THE MARK OF ATHENA WOULD PROBABLY NEVER BE PUBLISHED. THE HORROR! AHHH! PAUSE. I MUST BE ZEN! CALM…

Well, I can't say that I'm happy. It's the opposite, actually. I'm not happy. I'm sobbing my eyes out. Tears cloud my vision as I run. I run from the Big House. I run from Chiron, from Grover. From everyone, from everything. There is only one person that I want to see, but I can't see him. I just did - for the first time - and my heart is more than broken. It's shattered to pieces, microscopic specks of dust. His words… they still ring through my head, echoing around in my skull.

"Are you real?"

It kills me. Kills me. If he remembered me, then he would have said my name. Or that he missed me. Or that he loved me, even. But no. He said the worst three words possible. They broke my heart, leaving me torn to pieces.

"Are you real?"

Not "You are despicable." Not "I hate you." It's worse than that. These three words… they're the worst three words of all.

"Are you real?"

His voice burns. It forces my skull to ring, and my eyes to leak all over and form an ocean of tears. He doesn't remember. My last hopes, the last shards of it, the miniscule grains of sand, are lost. Blown in the wind. Scattered somewhere far away. Maybe it's scattered where he is. Maybe he'll find it, and it will keep him alive until he someday he remembers me.

"Are you real?"

I had hoped, prayed, even sunk to the ground begging, pride out the window. It was in vain. No one had listened to my pleading, my sobbing. Wishing for him to remember my name, or better yet, my face. There was no response from my mother, Zeus, Hera even. Not even Aphrodite. For the goddess of love, she was strangely silent.

"Are you real?"

I run to shelter, a safe place where I can take refuge in until the storm clouds leave. Ignoring Drew's sarcastic remarks, ignoring Leo's warning yelp as a flaming chunk of metal falls from the deck of the Argo II and lands at my heels. I just keep running and dashing, picking up the pace until I am sprinting, blinded by the salty rainstorm. I streak to the building in the back of the Ω shape of the cabin formation. Small, blue, and peaceful. There's comfort there, in Cabin Three, the only place that can ease my grief. I throw myself through the cobwebby doorway, hearing the large decorative door slam behind me. Tears come faster than before, cascading down my cheeks, soaking my camp t-shirt, pooling onto the cold marble floor. A downpour of water streams from my eyes as I sink down onto his bed. I'm not normally this weak. But I'm not normally this broken. I'm supposed to be a heronie, but I can't be a fearless leader without him. _My_ hero. It brings me back to the reason for the waterfall of tears in the first place.

"Are you real?"

I hadn't cried once over Percy's disappearance. Not once. I had been a strong leader. But now... that's gone. I'll never be able to be strong again. At least that's what it feels like.

"Are you real?"

His voice… it rings through my brain. I colapse onto his pillow, and inhale deeply. It smells like _ROFL's Royal Air Freshner_, but it smells like him, too. I feel so safe, even though I'm crying like a baby. I lie on the bed for hours, curled in a fetal position. I'm exausted though, for my eyelids are closing despite the tears pooling on my sheets. Finally, floods of salty tears later, I slowly drift into the world I call dreamland. Before passing out, the last thing I remember is hearing his voice. Percy's voice. Asking the question I cannot answer. The question that breaks my heart.

"Are you real?"


End file.
